Coaches usually empathize whenever another coach gets fired. And on his national radio show on the Sporting News network Monday, Laker Coach Phil Jackson empathized with Steve Lavin. He also talked about the difficulty of coaching at UCLA. "What people remember in this area," he said, "is how disciplined and how precise this basketball club played under John Wooden -- what a great teacher he was, a disciplinarian and basketball coach. His teams reflected that on the floor. Well, they miss that."

Regular-season conference champion Georgia State blew a 12-point with 13 minutes remaining, but came back for a 66-56 victory over Samford in the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament at Atlanta. The victory was the 760th for Georgia State Coach Lefty Driesell, who moved past former Western Kentucky coach Ed Diddle into sixth place on the NCAA Division I all-time victory list. In today's final, Georgia State (27-4) plays Troy State (19-11)--a 78-69 winner over Stetson.

Louisiana State's Seimone Augustus was named the winner of the 2005 Naismith Trophy on Tuesday as women's college player of the year. Augustus, a 6-foot-1 guard, averaged 20.1 points and 4.5 rebounds for the Tigers, leading them to their second straight trip to the NCAA Final Four and a 33-3 record. Augustus also won the United States Basketball Writers Assn. player-of-the-year award and the Associated Press player-of-the-year award this season.

Southern Illinois' Jamaal Tatum won the personal battle with Butler's A.J. Graves -- and the bigger one too. As two of the nation's premier mid-major guards went head-to-head, Tatum made the bigger shots and the key free throws Saturday to help the 16th-ranked Salukis pull off their first road win over a ranked opponent in more than three decades -- 68-64 over No. 13 Butler. "Somebody had to lose today, and that's the way it went," Butler Coach Todd Lickliter said.

This letter is in response to recent articles written about Northridge basketball Coach Pete Cassidy. In terms of his recruiting effort, recruiting, first of all, is not an exact science. You can take isolated cases and overall make things very damaging. Why is the recruiting of Mike Almeido 11 years ago an issue today? The recruiting of Gary Gray was also called into question. At the time Gary Gray graduated from Granada Hills he was a legitimate Division I player being pursued by mid-major schools.

Duke forward David McClure is doubtful for the eighth-ranked Blue Devils' game against Virginia on Thursday because of a knee injury. McClure hyperextended his left knee after a collision in the second half of Duke's 75-61 victory over Boston College on Sunday. An MRI after the game showed no structural damage to the knee. It was the same knee that he hurt in 2005 and kept him sidelined for the 2005-06 season. "We'll see how he responds to treatment this week," Coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Billy Packer is gone from CBS, he won't be dwelling on the awful slight some Clemson or Arizona might suffer at the hands of a Butler or George Mason or some mid-major team. So NCAA Selection Sunday (3 p.m., Channel 2) will be different this year. Former Nevada Las Vegas guard Greg Anthony will be the main voice of CBS' coverage and Clark Kellogg will join Jim Nantz and take Packer's place on the network's lead team for NCAA tournament games.

A.J. Graves can't grow any wider or taller, and the junior point guard doesn't believe Butler will ever shed its mid-major label. But the Bulldogs sure can pull off a surprise or two once they get into the NCAA tournament. Goodbye, Maryland. Welcome back, Butler, the small Indiana school that clinched its second trip to the round of 16 in four years with a 62-59 victory over the Terrapins on Saturday. Graves led the way, scoring 19 points, including a key three-point basket with 2:09 left.

Johnny Gray shares the name his father made famous by competing in four Olympics. So sure, the Pacific point guard tried track and field. "I was pretty good at it, but I didn't like the practices," Gray said, then grinned. "Too much running for me." His father, standing under the basket as his son snipped a strand of the net and tucked it behind his ear after being named most valuable player of the Big West tournament Saturday in Anaheim, had to laugh.